"As the winningest program in the history of college football, with all of the great players that the University of Michigan has fielded over the last 132 years, the head coach makes a conscious decision - after two back to back losing seasons, and his own job on the line - to put a winged helmet on a young man who (aside from the Center) will touch the ball on every single Offensive possession that he is on the field...and he can't even tie his own shoes!

...because he runs like the very wind itself.

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going..." -John 3:8

I too loathe the 3:30 game. I have never been a patient person and waiting around all that time is brutal. Plus I work on Saturday's and usually get done about 11:30 so it's always perfect for a noon game. Also people like to plan parties and shit Sat evenings where I have to miss half the game like I will have to the next 2 weeks. Grrrr. Thankful for the BTN app that allows me to listen to the game.

It felt strange sleeping in today and not heading to AA at 5am. Will be watching the game today at home and trying to get some stuff done before and after. Michigan hockey starts tonight but I gave my tickets to a guy from work to take his 5 year old son. There are just too many good football games on tonight. Michigan should be able to outscore Indiana but I do not take anything for granted anymore after the last couple years.

I just hope the defense can make Indiana punt 3-5 times today. We know what the offense can do, but it will be a shoot-out. Don't be surprised if Indiana puts 35+ points on the board. We just need more.

Spot on with "We need to take LONGER than 2 plays and :45 seconds to score a touchdown". Christmas!

The chocolate milk is working for MIKE MARTIN. His 20 yard sack was, was, was....I can't find words to describe that one. HE JUST NEEDS ANOTHER TWO GUYS ON THE@#e$r%t^@!#$%^@#$%^@#$%^#$%^ LINE OF SCRIMMAGE TO HELP HIM OUT!!!!@#$%^&@#$%^&#$%^&*#$%^&*#$%^&*$%^&*.

Good catch on Gerg's suck up there at the end. His expression was priceless. I would also like to read his lips. You talk about a #$%^&@#$%^&#$%^&* HOT SEAT.

Did anyone else yell at their TV's when Denard called the timeout and RichRod came halfway out on the field like a possessed demon? I was like, STFU! The kid you are yelling at is singlehandedly saving your @$$!!!

I'm betting that we don't see a single 3 man rush the entire game against Sparty next week.

It was an early prayer of mine that we were only rushing 3 during the non-conference games so that we didn't tip our hat when we blitzed on every down once Big Ten play started....some prayers obviously don't get answered.

I honestly think that the D scheme changes a bunch this week and we start bringing the house across the line of scrimmage, and just take our chances with our younger DBacks. Baptism by fire.

We really have such an explosive offense, that if we just let the D hang it all out and live with our lumps if we get torched, we get our blazing Offense out there that much faster.

That does several things:

1) It unleashes even more Martin HULK RAGE if he knows he gets an extra guy or two on the pass rush - and we get more pressure, more sacks, more bad passes and hopefully a few more picks - just from the rush.

2) If we do get some good D stops going, it will pump the younger guys up in the backfield and they could step up their games and play better - making bigger hits, or making great plays on the ball like Ray V did last week with his pick.

3) If we keep the offense on the field more often, they are less likely to "go cold" like they did a little bit there when the D actually did have some great stops. BALANCE!

4) It may make for even larger high scoring shootouts that what we've previously seen, but that will just mean more of the Denard Show (is that such a bad thing?).

5) (Directly related to #4 above). It will most certainly take a few years of life off the ol' ticker if these "last drive to win" shootouts continue. But what a way to go out!

Bend don't break defense is not the way to go. Sure it saves the big break away plays, but truly, it only allows the opposing offense to nickel and dime their way down the field. That was perfectly evident yesterday against Indiana. Although their offense wasn't terrible, we simply can't play this defense against the rest of the big 10 and expect to win.

On the other hand.........our offense is almost flawless. Yes Denard is spectacular, However I don't see it said much, he wouldn't be as great if he didn't have an O line that was making their blocks, our offense rocks the house!!!

I laughed out loud and then yelled at the TV when the announcers said that the Michigan Defense (and I use that term loosely) was in bend but don’t break mode. Oh yeah, they were in bend mode alright. As in bend over, grab the handles and take it mode. The IU offense did whatever they wanted to do, whenever they wanted to do. We’re very lucky they ran out of time on that last drive, or they would’ve scored again. No way we make a stop.I kind of hope Gerg was just begging for help packing up his stuff because he’s already gone. But then again, will that really make a difference this year? Is it really coaching and not just a matter of not having enough talent or experience on defense (again, I feel odd using that word to describe the 11 guys that go out onto the field when the other team has the ball)I have to say though, it’s so amazing having someone wearing the winged helmet do all the unbelievably, awesome, breathtaking things that Denard does. I rewind every time he scores and watch it again, again and again.

Firing GERG won't solve anything. We all knew months before it started that this defense was going to be worse then last year. With Woolfolk's injury that sealed the deal. There is little to no talent on the defensive side of the ball. I am really surprised we haven't seen one or two receivers play both sides of the ball. They have to be a better option than 5'9" walkons. You could put any number of defensive coaches to run the defense and it won't be any different. If we had 06's defense M would be a clear cut NC contender. Alas.

It took RR 3 years to build the offense let's hope he starts focusing on defense now.

At the beginning of the season someone asked me to predict their record and I said 7-5. And then he asked me how and I thought they would be 3-1 after the first 4 (with the loss coming against ND). And then with wins against Indy, Sparty, Purdue and someone else they would hit my 7-5 mark. I'm still sticking by 7-5 because I don't think the offense will be able to put up enough points to overcome the defense. So we'll see.

Although I really wish they'd re-evaluation the bend but don't break because it's basically a prevent and prevent defense doesn't prevent much.

Not sure if you'll check back here or not this late in the thread, but MVictors has two still pics of GERG's expression to Rodriguez after the game:

http://mvictors.com/WordPress/images/2009/greg_robinson.jpg

I'm not great at reading expressions - but I think he said,

"We did it Rich! We did it! We're 5-0 and we did it with that BULL#$%3-3-5 prevent Defense for FIVE straight games!!! Sparty will never expect the five man, all balls out, front we are going to lay on them next week! We pulled it off! Pure gamesmanship! This is going to be BEEAAAUUUUUUUTTTTIIIIFFFULLLLLL!!AUEUAUEUAUAUEUAUAUEUAUUEUAUEUEU!!!

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